The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled

Question from Jared:
First of all I want to apologize if this has been asked before. Unless it’s just my browser, there doesn’t seem to be a search function at the top right of the page as mentioned. (I didn’t see a “devil” or “Satan” tag so I guess it might not have been asked.)

Someone I know has an argument that goes as follows (more or less): “The devil’s ultimate goal is to get people to believe that he and God don’t exist and if you are an atheist, you’re playing into his trap”. How can you rationally respond to that?

Answer by SmartLX:
This is not an argument for God, it is an assertion. Specifically it’s an attempted rationalisation of the very existence of atheism in a universe with an all-powerful god who wants everyone to believe in it and is nevertheless failing to achieve this. The rational response to it is to call it out as an assertion and ask for evidence, not only of the existence of God and the devil but of the devil’s specific intentions. How does your acquaintance know any of this?

The alternative, which you might or might not bring up, is that the ultimate goal of churches is to get people to believe that God and the devil do exist, because new believers bring publicity, money and social and political clout, and if you’re a Christian you’re playing into their trap.

This had not been asked before, but there’s at least some material on Satan here, this piece for example. The search function should appear as a grey magnifying glass in the top right hand corner. If you see it, give it a click. The tags in the tag cloud are not the only ones in use, just the most common ones. If all else fails, Google “ask the atheist” in quotes, and outside the quotes put in your keywords. That’s what I do to find my own stuff sometimes.

5 thoughts on “The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled”

In my humble opinion, your friend, by saying that devil this or that, is indirectly stating that the devil exists, by using the words ‘devil wants’, etc’, without having previously proved that this devil of his exists, because, if it doesn’t, which apparently happens to be the case…bad luck for your friend…at least until further notice, i.e. until proven it does, then the statement of your friend about the nonexistent devil, has no value whatsoever. Empty words.

I understand that SmartXL said the same as I am saying, in other words. I added mine, as a kind of support, because, atheists, except for him, and me, are rarely herd here, they probably just don’t bother about the silly noise believers make all the time, since the dawn of humans, to scare their kids into obedience, and soothe themselves, too. They too are kids.

“The devil’s ultimate goal is to get people to believe that he and God don’t exist and if you are an atheist, you’re playing into his trap”.

Then why did an all loving and good god being that loves us all, who created everything, make such a devil? This is just one of the many contradictions in Christianity that make the whole thing a bunch of nonsense. God doesn’t deceive or sow discord according to the Bible, and then proceeds to deceive and sow discord in the Bible. God isn’t evil, but created evil. God is perfect, but made imperfect humans. Someone is playing into the trap, but it sure isn’t atheists…

As is typical of so many theist comments, they don’t provide evidence or data that the devil or their creator god exists, but instead ask leading questions that assume that the existence of such things is a foregone conclusion, which they most certainly are not.

Don’t let your friend divert you from the fact that you require data and evidence for these beings (which you will never get), and that their creator god is responsible for all this wicked things, while claiming that we are loved…

There definitely is good and evil. Evolution has no answer to why this is. And when you couple this with many individuals who claim that they have had contact with God and the fact that many individuals who have exhibited confirmed possessions, by witnesses of and not of the churches. Which are blown off as fake or mass hysteria. But which have also happened way too often, that should not be just taken as coincidences or regular mental health problems. And it does make sense that satan wants to be obscure so that people would doubt God.

And God did not make a devil. If you search the Bible it says that God created a perfect being whose name was Lucifer. And then one day he decided not to be perfect. Just as you and I can decide to do or not do wrong or right.

And once again your ignorance is showing. The question is whether it is deliberate and planned or true ignorance. Because as intelligent as you try to make yourself out to be, it is sooooo, strange that you don’t take the time to check your sources before you make such unprofessional mistakes. The Bible also tells us that Adam and Eve were created perfect. They chose to disobey and thus all else started.

Ok, why would the devil want you to forget he/ she/ it exists??
I mean … yeah … they’d want you to stop believing in god for sure. But why would he want you to stop believing in him either?

If I was the devil, I would rather try and put the belief in your mind that I made everything and that there is no god and that I am benevolent and merciful and all powerful and you should all worship me.
But wait … that sounds too much like what God does (!!) …

To not believe in God would leave the door open for us to live as we want to live without having to worry about what would happen to us in the end. If we know that there is a devil, then putting one and one together, we would at least start worrying that God may be. Which would really throw a monkey wrench in satan’s plans on trying to destroy as many of us as possible to hurt God as much as possible. It is a twisted mind that would hurt those who you love to get at the one they hate you.

But the fact is everything points to God existing. The way that everything is heading to a melt down. Apparent designly created organisms breaking down and dying. Irrational behavior of highly intelligent organisms that destroy and do things that lead to self destruction.

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